Skeletons in the closet
by ThatGreekLady
Summary: Remus Lupin has the boggart lesson with the Slytherin third years but things don't go as he expected.
Remus Lupin was preparing for the first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson with the Slytherin third years. He was a little worried about how he would connect with the Slytherins, who were known for their elitist attitude.

Remus was determined to finally make peace with the Slytherin House, something that he never managed to do in his school years. His old Gryffindor friends would always paint the Slytherins as the bigots, the Junior Death Eaters and the bullies. These stereotypes were mostly proven right in Remus' experiences but now as an older person, he refused to believe that an entire House with more than 70 students should be painted with the same brush. He had even made attempts to be friendly with his old school rival, Severus Snape who was now also a teacher, but Snape had responded with hostile glares and sneering. Remembering the intense hatred between Snape and his old friends, he couldn't exactly blame the man for not being able to just forgive and forget. Thinking back and analyzing the situation objectively and without James' and Sirius' influence, he could admit his friends often went too far when it came to Snape.

Sirius..His heart sank when thinking about that name. He knew Sirius had a darker side ever since he almost got Snape killed by sending him to see what Remus was doing in the shrieking shack. Back then he had refused to believe Sirius wanted it to get so far but now, knowing what he knew, he wondered why he didn't recognize the signs earlier.

HIs thoughts were interrupted when the Slytherin students entered the classroom. Some of them were eyeing him warily. He noticed that a lot of them seemed to have an arrogant look on their faces. He sighed, maybe some things never change. He grabbed a parchment and started reading their names.

"Hide your books please, you won't be needing them and follow me, we will have our lesson at a different room."

The Slytherins started whispering at each other wondering what this new teacher had in store for them. He led them to a different room filled with old mismatched chairs and an old wardrope.

"Today we will learn how to face the boggarts" said Remus once he had the students attention. "Anyone knows what the boggarts are?"

A black haired girl raised her hand.

"Daphne?"

"It's a household pest and it becomes what it thinks will frighten us the most".

"Well done Daphne. Boggarts tend to hide in dark places and we luckily happened to find one that will help us with our lesson. Does anyone want to try facing the boggart?"

Nobody raised their hand and Remus sighed. So this was going to be difficult. Still he was determined to teach his students how to get rid of a simple household pest.

"Mr Zabini, would you like to help us demonstrate how to defend against a boggart".

Blaise Zabini smiled looking a bit anxious.

"Sir I already know how to fight boggart, maybe you should pick someone else".

"Since you already know I'm sure you can show your classmates how to do it" said Remus smiling. The other Slytherins started whispering again while Zabini frowned. Remus couldn't understand why they made it such a big of a deal. He had the same lesson with the Gryffindors earlier that day and it went pretty well. Zabini stepped forward hesitantly.

"Well, Mr Zabini so you know the anti-Boggart spell".

"Riddikulus" he said simply.

"Exactly, you have to think of a way to make fun of what you fear the most and use the spell Riddikulus. Class please think of what your worst fear would be and how to make it amusing".

The Slytherins started whispering again. Remus was pretty sure he heard the Parkinson girl saying "there's nothing amusing about being poor".

"Ok, now Mr Zabini, can you tell us what frightens you the most".

"I don't know".

"You said you had faced the boggart before, didn't you?"

Zabini glared at him and Remus smiled. He knew the Zabini kid was rich and had a privileged life, there's no way he would have to face boggarts like some simple house-elf.

"Do you think you can show the class how to fight the boggart."

"Yes.."

"Ok, don't forget you have to concentrate and think of a way to make your fear funny". He opened the wardrobe. After a couple of seconds everyone saw a dark-skinned, beautiful woman getting out of it looking at Blaise with a cruel expression. Remus' smile faltered wondering if this was his mother and whether it was a bad decision to pressure the kid like he did. However, Blaise said 'riddikulus' and the woman was now dressed in a french maid uniform looking flustered. The boys in the class started cheering and whistling and Blaise stepped back with an unreadable expression in his face. Remus sighed with relief.

"Good job Blaise, now who wants to try next? Miss Parkinson perhaps?"

Pansy glared at the professor and stepped forward. The french maid suddenly turned into another woman, much older and way less beautiful.

"You're a disgrace" said the woman-boggart maliciously "You'll never get married with those looks. You're worse than trash."

For a moment it looked like Pansy what about to cry and Remus considered interfering, but then she raised her wand and shouted "Riddikulus!"

The woman-boggart turned into a clown and Pansy stepped back. Remus decided to not call Theodore Nott who seemed to be hiding behind the other students, he didn't want to pressure the kid like he did with Zabini, so instead he called "Draco Malfoy".

Draco didn't really want to show his worst fear to the entire class but he also didn't want to appear weak so he stepped forward with an arrogant smirk on his face. He wasn't sure what his worst fear what, but it surely wouldn't be so bad, right?

The clown turned into two bodies lying dead on the floor. Remus recognized Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Draco turned pale and the whole class was suddenly silent.

"R..Riddikulus" he said but nothing happened. There was no way he could think of anything funny when the bodies of his parents were lying in front of him. He felt his eyes watering, turned around and left the room running.

"O...ok, class is over for today, I will get rid of the boggart. You are dismissed and please go see if Mr Malfoy is ok" said Lupin now thinking that perhaps this lesson was a mistake after all. The students left murmuring and some of them were glaring at Lupin. The boggart had now turned into an image of the full moon which was Lupin's worst fear. When he raised his eyes, he saw Theodore Nott having stayed behind looking at it curiously.

"Mr Nott, can I help you?"

"Yes.. I wondered if I could face the boggart now. I didn't want to do it in front of the whole class".

"Understandable" said Remus sighing. "It was wrong of me to make you do this in front of the entire class. I just thought it would be eaier to face the boggart as a group so that it would get confused. I hope you won't judge me as a teacher from this lesson alone."

"Of course Sir" said Theo " can I be alone when I do this, Sir?

"I'm afraid, I can't let you do that. As a teacher it is my responsibility to make sure nothing happens to you. I can ensure you however that I will not talk about your boggart to anyone. What happens in this room, will stay in this room". He smiled hesitantly and Theo nodded walking towards the boggart which now turned into an elderly man with a vicious smirk. Remus wondered if this was Theo's father the suspected Death Eater.

Theodore looked at his boggart with hatred and disgust and raised his wand "Riddikulus". The man-Boggart's head exploded and blood splattered into the floor and the walls. Remus was shocked. How could this be even remotely funny.

"Thank you for letting me do this Sir, I hope you will honor your promise and not talk about this to anyone, then I will also not talk about your own boggart which is very interesting indeed." Remus' heart started beating quickly. Could Theodore Nott suspect he was...

Theo smirked and left the room. Remus banished the boggart and dropped onto a chair feeling exhausted. The Boggart lesson with the Slytherins had gone worse that he could ever expect.


End file.
